Playing in Indian Wells brings great memories to Pablo Cuevas. Against all expectations, the Uruguayan reached his first ever Master 1000 quarter-finals at the 2017 BNP Paribas Open. Known for having one of the best kick serves in the game, the high bouncing conditions in the California desert are perfect for Pablo’s game style. Nevertheless, the last months haven’t been easy for Cuevas with the 32-year-old winning only 54.54% of the matches played in 2018.

As we predicted in our Day 1 analysis, Denis Shapovalov proved too strong for Ricardas Berankis with a 6 – 3 6 – 4 win over the qualifier. Regardless of this Saturday’s outcome, the Canadian teenager already secured his career high ranking next week. Taking a look now at Shapovalov’s numbers on his debut, the highlight definitely goes to his serve with the 18-year-old winning 88.00% of the points behind his first serve.

Despite Pablo’s brilliant campaign at last year’s edition, it won’t be easy for the Uruguayan to overcome such a dangerous opponent as Shapovalov. The bookmakers agree with us with Denis as the main favourite to win at 51/100 at Pinnacle while William Hill offers 81/50 for Cuevas’ victory. Due to the low price on Shapovalov’s moneyline, our suggestion is for you to place a bet on his -2.5 Game Handicap at 77/100 ta 5Dimes as the best betting approach for this contest.

Stefanos Tsitsipas continues to impress with the 19-year-old already securing an unprecedented appearance in the top-70 next week. Known as one of the most promising young players in the game, the 19-year-old holds an outstanding 62.50% winning record this season against top 100 opponents. Taking a look now at Tsitsipas campaign on this event, the Greek teenager reaches this stage of the competition after a 7 – 6 6 – 2 win over Radu Albot.

Dominic Thiem couldn’t have asked for a better start to 2018. The No.5 seed is going through a very good moment in his career with an incredible 16 – 3 record this season. Adding to this, the Austrian won his 9th ATP World Tour title at the Argentina Open a few weeks ago. Despite his brilliant results in recent months, Thiem is always trying to improve on Hard Court after winning only 53.57% of the matches played on this surface over the last 12 months.

This will be the 2nd career meeting between these two players with Dominic emerging victorious from their previous encounter earlier this season in Doha by 7 – 5 6 – 4.

The bookmakers expect a straightforward win from Thiem with the Austrian available at 8/25 at 5Dimes while William Hill offers 5/2 for Tsitsipas’ victory. Even though we agree with Dominic’s favouritism, this should be a closer encounter than the odds suggest. For that reason, our advice is for you place a bet on the Over 21.5 at 83/100 at Pinnacle as the most valuable line for this match.